Midsummer Mischief - Four Radical Plays by Women

"Well-behaved women seldom make history"

Four radical new plays by women commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company as part of their 2014 Midsummer Mischief festival

The writers were given the famous quote by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, "Well-behaved women seldom make history" as an initial provocation and each writer has responded to this line in a unique and distinctive way

The four plays are ...

The Ant and the Cicada ~ Timberlake Wertenbaker

A mysterious investor has set his sights on a prime piece of Greek real estate

Owned by two sisters whose lives and beliefs are at odds, and with debts rising all the time, the property's future is uncertain

In a Greek tragedy, everybody loses

Through the struggle between two very different sisters for control of their family home, Wertenbaker explores why we are willing to let the home of art and democracy crumble as the rest of Europe looks on

Revolt. She said. Revolt again ~ Alice Birch

You are expected to behave

Use the right words

Act appropriately

Don't break the rules

Just behave

This play is not well behaved

Alice Birch examines the language, behaviour and forces that shape women in the 21st century and asks what's stopping us from doing something truly radical to change them

Alice was Winner of the George Devine Award for Most Promising New Playwright 2014

I Can Hear You ~ E.V. Crowe

Tommy is dead

It's always tragic when they die young

People have posted loads of nice stuff on his Facebook page

His sister Ruth has returned for the funeral and wants to get it just right

Proper cutlery and a good spread

The send-off he deserved, and certainly better than they managed when mum died

The following Sunday, Ruth's plans to leave again are interrupted as the doorbell rings

And in walks Tommy - still very much dead

E.V. Crowe's naturalistic supernatural play examines what the possibilities are for the women in Tommy's family, and questions if it's as easy for everyone to reveal what it is they want

This Is Not An Exit ~ Abi Zakarian

You wake up, tied to a radiator

Your hands are bound and there's a bag over your head

You know you should fight, but you don't know how or against whom

But you can't have it all - where would you put it?

A funny and ferocious drama about the absurdity at the heart of modern womanhood, and what really stands in the way of fulfilment